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If progress is the advancement of society, what is congress?
US CAPITOL BUILDING
Legislative Branch – “makes laws”
1. Strongest branch2. Separation of lawmaking power from
executive3. Bicameralism balances large/small
states House – more connected to people (2 yr term) Senate – allows for independent thinking (6 yr
term)
House 435 members 2 year term 7 year citizen
Initiate impeachment Revenue bills
Strict debate rules
Senate 100 members 6 year term 9 year citizen
Tries impeachment Approve presidential
appointments Approve treaties’ Loose debate rules
Establish Federal courts: i.e. inferior courts
Congressional oversight: exercise some control over executive agencies.
Current issue—Obamacare and Mrs. Sebilius coming before Congress to answer questions.
Article I, Section 8 To lay and collect taxes, duties, imports To borrow money To regulate commerce (states and
foreign) To establish rules for naturalization To coin money To create courts (except Supreme Court) To declare war To raise and support an army and navy
Elastic clause has extended Congress powers
Oversight of budget – can restrict the fed. budget prepared by executive branch
Appropriations – set amount of money made available for various activity in a fiscal year
Investigation – Congress can launch investigations (Watergate, Clinton-Lewinski hearings, Steroids in baseball)
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
MINORITY LEADER
MINORITY WHIP
MAJORITY LEADER
MAJORITY WHIP
PRES. PRO TEMPORE
MINORITY LEADER
MINORITY WHIP
MAJORITY LEADER
(MOST POWERFUL)
MAJORITY WHIP
PRESIDENT of the SENATE
(VICE PRESIDENT)
Majority party controls the most significant leadership positions
House - Speaker of the House Allows people to speak on floor Assigns bills to committees Influences which bills are brought to a vote Appoints members of special and select
committees
Senate – Majority Leader Schedules Senate business Prioritizes bills
110th Congress (2007-2008) 85% male 85% White 40% Lawyers109th Congress (2005-2006) 29 accused of spousal abuse 7 have been arrested for fraud 19 arrested for writing bad checks 117 have bankrupted at least 2 businesses 8 have been arrested for shoplifting
In 1998 alone, 84 were stopped for drunk driving
House members directly elected Senators directly elected after 17th
Amend House Incumbent advantage – Why?
Name recognition Proven track record Franking privileges – free mailing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx47Njaj1hg&feature=endscreen&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LES2Fn-IxOg&feature=endscreen&NR=1
Malapportionment – unequal population in districts Wesberry v. Sanders (1963) – found
unequal district pop. unconstitutional – 14th amend
Gerrymandering – district boundaries are redrawn in strange ways to make it easy for candidate of one party to win Easley v. Cromartie (2001) – redistricting
for political ideology was constitutional, led to increase in minority reps
• Create legislation, make laws
• Founders believed in a SLOW process
• Founders believed efficiency was a trait of an oppressive government
•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKvY0Q3tI6I&feature=relmfu
Introduced in Senate or House (except tax)
Single or multiple reps can introduce bill
1. Bill is assigned to a particular committee in its category (Ex. Tax bill – Ways and Means Committee, Farm bill – Agriculture Committee)
2. Bill is then placed in sub-committee3. Bills are debated and “marked up”4. Most bills die in committee, committee
can vote to “report out” a bill
Before bill can go to floor in House, it must first set time limits and amendment regulations. Closed rule – sets time limits, restricts
amendments Open rule – permits amendments Restrictive rule – permits some
amendments
Senate Debate Less formal, no speaking limit Filibuster – practice of stalling a bill w/
debate Cloture – 3/5 of the Senate vote to
stop debateHouse Debate More formal, no filibuster, strict rules
Majority passes If the bill passes, it must go through
the same process in the opposite chamber with a sponsor
If the bill passes one house and fails the other, it must start over
If the Senate and House cannot come to agreement over two versions, it goes to Conference Committee to fix it and resubmit the bill
Sign – bill becomes law Veto – bill returns to origin Override – 2/3 vote in both houses
can override veto Pocket Veto – President has 10 days
to act on a piece of legislation. If he receives the bill within 10 days of the end of the Congressional session, and doesn’t sign, it dies
Most real work happens here Bills are passed, changed, ignored, or
killed http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=EI8IbBHWeXo
Standing committee – handle bills in different policy areas (ex. Appropriations, Agriculture, Armed
Services, Science, etc.) – most important and have been “standing”
(existing) for a long time Select committee
– formed for specific purposes and usually temporary – run investigations (ex. Aging, Intelligence)
Joint committee – consist of both House and Senate
members similar in purpose to Select committee Meant to draw attention to issues
Conference committee – consist of both House reps and Senators formed to hammer out differences between
House and Senate versions of similar bills Congressional Committees and
Subcommittees
Controlled by majority party, committee membership divided proportionally
Committee Chairman Senior member of committee Controls membership and debate
11,000 bills introduced yearly, most die Committees can…
Report out favorably/unfavorably Pigeonholed/table (do not discuss) Amend / “mark up” (change or rewrite)
Groupings of members pushing for similar interests
Ex. – Sunbelt, Northeast-Midwest, Congressional Black, Women’s, Democratic Study Group, Boll Weevils, Steel
“Pork” – aka “pork-barrel legislation” – bills to benefit constituents in hope of gaining their votes
Logrolling – Congress members exchange votes, bills might pass for frivolous reasons
Christmas-tree bill –bill with many riders (pork) in Senate, no limit exists on amendments, so
Senators try to attach riders that will benefit their home state
No current limit on how many terms members of Congress can serve
1. Some argue this has weakened popular control of Congress, reps might be unresponsive to their constituents
2. Some argue most experienced reps have the expertise to bring home more benefits (pork, riders, etc.)